Louis Zucker,Salt Lake City, Utah: an interview by Hynda Rudd and Ralph DeRose, September 1 & 4, and October 24, 1972, January 25, 1973 and June 1, 1977

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LOUIS ZUCKER #1 down and took me along . They were selling these picture medals of President McKi n l ey's face. There was a feel­ing, you know. There was one of the most influential books of my childhood. I think t his might be worth mentioning. Parents do not always know, nobody always knows what effect a book will have on a child. We h ad a book which I wore out. It was about the three martyred presidents . Lin­coln, Garfield, and McKinley, romanticizing their lives, you know. In every case, the poor, obscure boy in the American small town who rose on the virtues of character and hard work and American life. This intelligence, to was the theme the heights of all three of of those. I read those, and there were pictures, rather crude, black and white line drawings. I read those, and read those, and read those over, and over, and over. I never tired. They became a part of me. At the same time, I was not aware if my siblings paid any attention to that book, but there it was, just like a dog and a bone. That is, the dog enjoys the bone and goes away, but it comes back to the bone, and so forth and so on. That was me with that book . I was able to read already. RD: Could I just ask you? What developed your interest in English literature? 21